andrew_ito

Here's an idea. Use a medium format view camera. I use an Ebony 23S. 6x9 view

camera that uses roll film. You get the benefits of cheaper film and processing, no

loading film holders, a more compact camera, very transportable film, more choices

in films, using the very best part of lenses made for 4x5 (center of circle), tons of

movement available on lenses designed for 4x5. You might want to just get a 4x5

and use roll film backs. That gives you the option of choosing sheet or roll film.

Without using movements I don't think a normal medium format camera can give you

the DOF that you're looking for. Here's an example of DOF with a view camera.<div></div>

As far as Adorama goes... I bought a used Canon lens from them with the included

lens hood. The lens hood didn't arrive with the lens and when I called customer

service, they told me it was backordered and would ship it as soon as it had arrived.

Needless to say, it never arrived. That was probably at least a few months ago. After

multiple calls to the company, my problem has not been solved. I don't think that

Adorama will be that much of an improvement over B&H. If you want service your

local pro shop will probably give you much better customer service. Your B&H

experience does sound sketchy though...

I have the Fuji and really like it for travelling. If weight and packing size are an issue you can't beat the Fuji. Instead of packing the body and three lenses, you just take the zi and it's built in 4 focal length stops. It really depends on how you're using the camera and how you shoot, but I find the Fuji great for exceptional quality handheld shooting and for travel. Mine goes backpacking with me every trip. I've also shot some wedding candids and group shots with the zi and it's performed very well. At the low prices the Fuji is going for now, I'd recommend the zi.

I had a Mamiya 7 with 65mm & 150mm lenses. It's a great travel camera. Very light,

extremely sharp and compact. The camera, 2 lenses with hoods and panoramic

adapter all fit into a little LowePro Photo Runner fanny pack. The "improvements" of

the 7II are not worth the money in my opinion. You can have your 7 upgraded with

the 7II viewfinder by Mamiya. Mine was upgraded before I purchased it. The rest of

the improvements are minor. If you do multiple exposures, you'll want the 7II.

 

The rangefinders are said to be somewhat sensitive and have been reported to go out

of alignment. I've never had problems with the one I've owned, but then again, I

didn't have it for all that long and didn't abuse my camera.

 

You can get good portraits with the camera, but might have to really concentrate

while using the 150mm lens. Also, you won't be able to focus close making it

difficult for tight headshots.

 

What I've learned over the years is that you can't really have everything. Each system

has it's pluses and minuses. If weight and quality is your primary concern, the

Mamiya 7 is an excellent choice. There are few 6x7's with the sharp lenses, low

weight and features of the Mamiya. If portraits are your specialty, the Mamiya 7 may

not be the camera for you. You'd probably be much better off with an SLR at the

price of the added weight. Good luck!

I have owned a Rollei SL66 with 80mm & 150mm HFT lenses and currently own a few Hasselblads. Since you already own a Hassy, I'd stick with that. The Rollei uses a focal plane shutter and has a limited sync speed compared to the Hassy's ability to sync at all speeds. Flash sync for environmental portraits is a key benefit for using the Hassy's leaf shutters. The SL66's ability to reverse the lenses and the built in bellows is nice for macro work, but if that's not a part of your normal shooting then it just becomes a nice extra feature. The tilt feature on the Rollei is nice but it doesn't tilt anywhere near enough plus the lenses don't have enough coverage to use the tilt to their maximum ability. If I were in your position, I'd use the $2500 to add lenses to your existing Hassy system.

Thanks Charles! I might give that a try. It doesn't sound all that difficult and I'll have a friend who is versed in electronics help me out. Thanks again!

Hello folks! Recently, I bought a Hassy EL and the previous owner took the liberty of drawing on the ground glass with a black permanent marker. The camera came with a 16 back, so I'm assuming that he wanted to draw the exact crop on the glass. Well, I probably won't use the 16 back much if at all and want to restore the ground glass to it's original clean state. Is there any solvent that I can use to remove the permanent ink (looks like it was written with a black Sharpie.) without damaging the gg? The ink marks are on the top surface or smooth surface of the glass. Thanks in advance for your help! Mr. Bakker, you've been extremely helpful with sharing your knowledge and it's much appreciated!

Thank you both for your very quick responses! Charles, do you have any instructions for actually making this charger? It would be greatly appreciated!

I recently bought a Hasselblad EL with no charger. The battery seems to be dead and my friend has a charger for his ELX. Would I be able to use his charger to charge up the batteries on my EL without damaging the batteries or the camera? Thanks in advance for your help and suggestions.

I used the SA 47mm (non XL) with a 6x9 camera and found it to have less than adequate coverage when using moderate shift movements. It also needs a center filter to compensate for the drop off. I cannot give any resolution comparisons to the XL since I've never shot with it, but the 47mm SA didn't blow my socks off. The cost for the non-XL version is considerably less than the XL. I'm thinking the difference will be around $400-450. If the XL works within your budget I'd get that version. Good luck!

Welcome to the Orange Curtain! I actually just moved out of Fountain Valley to Torrance, but am still willing to go shoot anywhere in the LA/OC area. Keep me posted if you are planning a get together. Otherwise, you can attend the afore mentioned Free Workshops by Per. They're great! Hopefully, we'll meet soon!

The Ebony 23S is what I have and it does exactly what you would want it to

do. I bought mine used a little while back for under $1K, but I got a steal of a

deal. These cameras occasionally go up for auction on eB@y. The 23SW is

a bit cheaper, lighter and is very easy to use with wide lenses. You wouldn't

even need a recessed board with the 58XL that you're thinking of getting.

Unfortunately the camera doesn't have any rear movements other than rise.

The 23S has full front and rear movements. The Ebony cameras can also be

modified to use a Horseman angle viewer. This typically needs to be

removed for fine focusing, but is good for determining composition and for

rough focus. I would save my money and keep my eyes open on the auction

site and websites like this one for the Ebony. I can refer you to someone who

I know is selling a 23S. It's not been used much, but I think he is selling it for

more than what you're willing to pay. Email me for the info. Good luck.

John,

 

From your last post it looks like you are considering a view

camera. If I had to choose again, I'd get a 4x5. It would allow me

to use 6x9 & 6x12 backs in addition to 4x5. That being said, I'm

very pleased with my Ebony 23S. It's great for the landscapes

that I enjoy.

 

You could get lenses that do double duty on a 4x5. For example,

the 58XL with a 6x9 back would be your 24mm equivalent of the

35 format. The same lens used with a 4x5 holder would be an

ultrawide around 16-17mm in 35 format. A standard 105 with

6x9 would be around 28mm (35mm =) with a 4x5. That's

another benefit of using different format backs. It's almost like

having more lenses. I guess cropping a 4x5 would have the

same effect though.

I bought an Acratech ultimate ballhead to replace a Foba Mini

Superball. It's holding an Ebony view cam with ease. The

ballhead is rated to hold 25 lbs and many have said that they've

tested it with more weight. It's noticeably lighter than even the

relatively lightweight Foba that I was using and holds just as

good if not better. It matches my CF tripod perfectly.

I've done much of the same type of research that you have. I've

settled on having a few different cameras for different purposes.

My main landscape camera is an Ebony 23S. It is very small

and light and sets up as quick as a medium format SLR.

Focusing takes more time, but since it's a non-folding design,

you can pull it right out of the bag and mount it on the tripod.

After a quick focus and light reading you just pop on the roll-film

back and away you go.

 

The Ebony 23SW can use a 35mm lens on a recessed board.

The 6x9 format also has the benefits of getting to use the best

part of the image circle with most 4x5 lenses. My 23S fits in a

LowePro Orion AW fanny pack with 3 lenses, a Horseman

rollfilm back, Horseman angle viewer, loupe, filters, etc, with

room to spare.

 

I agree that shooting color trannies on 4x5 can be very

expensive, so that's why I use 6x9. You get 8 shots per roll, film

is cheaper as well as processing. No loading or carrying heavy

film holders. No problems with dust all over your film. BUT, no

N+ or N- development unless the whole roll is designated as

such.

 

Using polarizers on rangefinders isn't really a problem. You first

get the orientation of the filter correct by holding it up to your eye.

Determine by the marks on the outside of the filter exactly how it

should line up when you screw the filter in. Heliopan polarizers

have a set of numbers printed on the ring that works well for this.

ND grads are a different story.

 

If you have really high standards for sharpness, I'd stay away

from 645 at 16x20. That's starting to push the limits unless you

go with drum scanning and lightjet prints. At least for my

acceptable levels of sharpness.

 

Anyways, I'm sure you've done your research. These are just my

thoughts from going through a similar process. Good luck!

I haven't used the Toyo roll film holders, so I don't think I can

accurately give an answer whether they will work or not. With the

Horseman backs you don't need to remove the ground glass as

it is made to swing away. However, I'm not sure how the size

compares to the Toyo.

I tried to use a D cell battery to advance film & re-cock the shutter. It didn't

respond. Finally, I remembered the trick of using a screwdriver to re-cock the

shutter from inside the camera body. That reset the shutter and I was able to

remove the lens.

I recently bought a group of Hasselblad gear and was

wondering if there is some online resource that can give me an

idea of what some of the pieces might sell for. I have looked a

little at "the auction site" to try to get some info, but the prices

fluctuate so much that I'm not sure what is a fair price. Also, I'm

trying to identify some of the pieces that I'm not familiar with and

was wondering if there is a site that shows pictures and has

descriptions of Hasselblad equipment. Thanks.

Funny, I have the same question. I just check a few minutes ago

and then saw your post on photo.net.

Ok, I feel like a dork.... I just bought a group of equipment from a

guy including a Hassy ELM and a few lenses. Well, the batteries

on the ELM are dead and I put the 80mm lens on the body.

Somehow I wound up firing the shutter and now the lens is stuck

on the body because I can't re-cock the shutter since the

batteries are dead. Is there a way to safely release the lens?

Also, I didn't receive any battery charger for the nicads. How do

you recharge the batteries? How long does it hold a charge?

How many exposures can you get out of a charge? And lastly,

what is the value of this camera if it is in EX condition? Thanks

in advance for all your help.

Michael Frye posts regularly on CalPhoto's Yahoo groups site.

He doesn't gain anything financially from doing this, but freely

gives advice and reports conditions in Yosemite. There are

some helpful pros out there!

First of all, what do you consider affordable? I just sold a

Mamiya 7 with a 65 & 150mm and a panoramic adapter and a

Kirk quick release for around $2100. I used this for landscape

photos primarily because of the weight, easy handling, ultra

sharp lenses, etc. Compared to what they go for new, you can

find really good deals now on eB@y and sites like this. Many

people are moving to digital and are selling fine cameras like

this one for much cheaper than what they were selling for a year

or two ago. Especially with the advent of the 11 & 14 megapixel

dslr's.

 

The Mamiya 7 also offers the option of shooting panoramics on

35mm film which is nice, but there are no cropping lines in the

viewfinder so it's a bit of hit and miss. But at least you have this

option available to you and aren't limited to 35mm film like a

Hassy X-pan.

 

I also have a Fuji GA 645zi which is even more lightweight and

has the versatility of a built in zoom lens. This is what I typically

take backpacking and travelling because of it's portability and

weight. It's a good starting point for MF since it has a program

mode, aperture priority and full manual modes.

 

If weight and size is a serious issue, then I would consider a

Mamiya 7 or Fuji 690 or 645 rangefinders. The Fuji's are much

cheaper and have very sharp lenses, although the contrast of the

Mamiya seems more natural to my eye. If weight is not an issue,

many people like to shoot MF slrs like Hasselblads or the

Pentax 67. The Pentax is nice with a big 6x7 neg, but has some

issues with shutter induced shake around 1/15th sec. The price

is right for these though and with mirror lock up and a heavy

tripod you can get by. Hasselblad is very expensive. A single

lens could buy you a Fuji rangefinder.

 

In the end you have to look at what's important to you. Is your

budget the main factor? Weight? Easy use of filters? Viewing

the image through the lens? These factors will best determine

what camera you end up getting. If you need more info you can

email me directly and I can give you my opinions and

experiences with Hassy, Pentax 67, Mamiya 7, Fuji 645zi, Rollei

SL66, Mamiya C330, Mamiya RB67 and Ebony, Plaubel, Sinar,

Wista view cameras. I've spent a lot of money and time checking

out different cameras and feel like I have an understanding of

what works well for me so I'd be more than willing to share

some of that info with you if you'd like.

I would go with an Ebony 45SW for it's compactness, light

weight, ability to use WA lenses without recessed boards, easy

set-up and quality build. The Tachihara's are reputed to be

made nicely and are quite light as well.

If you want to read a bit about the "digi-pixel-prints" you can look

here for more info:

 

http://www.piezography.com/dw-viewcamera-july.html

 

There's no visible pixels if that's your concern. The prints look

better than the platinum/palladium prints I made in college,

although I can't say that I'm an accomplished platinum printer. I

guess some people just don't feel like the computer is their

medium of choice. I just happen to enjoy making images

whether it be in the darkroom or on the computer...

I know this may sound heretical to some, but what about carbon

based, archival, quadtone inkjet prints? That's my preferred

mode of printing at the moment since I don't have space to set

up the darkroom in my current home.